Turbine engines may be employed to provide power to one or more vehicle components, such as a generator, a transmission, a gearbox, or another type of vehicle component for marine, industrial, or land systems. Generally, a turbine engine includes a rotatable drive shaft that is coupled at a first end to one or more turbine wheels. A second end of the drive shaft extends through a gearbox housing of a gear train and is coupled to a gearbox shaft. The gearbox shaft transfers power from the drive shaft to the vehicle components. Many conventional gearboxes house fluid, such as oil, for lubricating the vehicle components or other gearbox components. The fluid may flow freely within the gearbox housing and/or into a passage in the gearbox shaft. In some configurations, the fluid may be used to lubricate an interface between the drive shaft and the turbine wheel, and in such case, an interior shaft may extend through the drive shaft to deliver the fluid from the gearbox shaft to the turbine wheel.
To ensure that the fluid remains in designated areas of the gearbox and engine, numerous pieces are typically employed to form a leak-tight seal. In particular, a first end plug may be disposed in the first end of the drive shaft and a first end of the interior shaft extends through the first end plug. An annular flange that extends axially from a coupling plate may be included to mate with the interior shaft first end and to spline with the drive shaft first end. To prevent leakage between the annular flange and the drive shaft first end, a first annular seal may be coupled to the drive shaft first end and is disposed around the annular flange. In some configurations, a second end plug may be disposed in the second end of the drive shaft and the second end of the interior shaft may extend through the second end plug. The second end of the drive shaft may be splined with an end of the gearbox shaft, and a second annular seal may be disposed between the two shafts. In other configurations, a third annular seal may be mounted on an outer surface of the gearbox shaft to prevent fluid from leaking between the gearbox shaft and the gearbox.
Although the aforementioned turbine engines operate adequately, they may be improved. For example, because turbine engines operate in hostile operating environments, such as in high temperatures (e.g., temperatures greater than 480° C.), or may be exposed to non-synchronous vibration and/or high shaft speeds (e.g., speeds greater than 21,000 rotations per minute), the annular seals included in the engine may need relatively frequent replacement. As a result, the turbine engine may be undesirably subjected to frequent repair and downtime.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a turbine engine and gearbox interface that includes a leak-tight seal capable of operating in hostile operating environments. In addition, it is desirable for the interface to have a longer useful life than conventional turbine engine/gearbox interfaces so that repairs and replacement of the turbine engine components may occur less frequently. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the inventive subject matter will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the inventive subject matter and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the inventive subject matter.